A method and an apparatus for searching and presenting electronic information from one or more information sources.
The present invention relates to a method of searching and presenting electronic information from one or more information sources, said method comprising the steps of:
presenting one or more choices to a user,
registering one or more user specified choices,
using said one or more user specified choices to retrieve one or more references to information from said information sources, and
providing a search result comprising one or more references to information.
The present invention also relates to an apparatus for searching and presenting electronic information from one or more information sources, said apparatus comprising:
presenting means adapted to present one or more choices to a user,
registering means adapted to register one or more user specified choices,
retrieving means adapted to retrieve one or more references to information from said information sources using said one or more user specified choices, and
means adapted to provide a search result comprising one or more references to information.
Searching in large collections of electronic information, e.g. the Internet, large Intranets, etc., is normally done by software programs called search engines, which typically have an interface with one or more text boxes so that a user may type text usually in the form of keywords describing what he wants to find information about. The search engine supplies links to information sources or the sources themselves containing the relevant information by searching through indexes or taxonomies, i.e. a hierarchy of related contexts and/or topics.
Several search engines are available on the Internet today, the best known engines being Yahoo, Alta-Vista, Lycos, etc.
Searching can generally be described as a transaction oriented type of searching.
In a transaction oriented type of searching a search is executed as fast as possible and in one transaction only. There are no feedback possibilities and therefore no possibility for a search engine to learn what a specific user of the search engine prefers or is generally interested in for later use. If the user is not satisfied with the result of the search, e.g. because it contained too many or too few hits, the user has to input a new search criterion and start all over again.
In a typical transaction oriented type of searching the user specifies one or more keywords e.g. combined with Boolean operators like AND, OR and other criteria like closeness of words, use of synonyms, use of phonetics, etc. The search engine uses one optimal sorting algorithm to find the relevant documents/pieces of information that contain the specified keyword(s), and generally presents this information to the user as a long list of links sorted with regard to how well the information/document contains the keyword(s), i.e. typically sorted according to the highest frequency of the appearance of the specified keyword(s) in the documents in accordance with Boolean rules, phonetics, etc., if any.
All users of the search engine are normally presented with the same standard user interface, i.e. a static user interface, with a text box to specify the keyword(s) and possible Boolean operators and in some cases check boxes representing other possibilities like closeness of words, use of synonyms, use of phonetics or the like. The result of the search is presented in another interface as a list of links to documents containing the specified keyword(s) e.g. sorted as mentioned above. In this way two very different users specifying the same keywords, e.g. safety of cars, will receive exactly the same list of links regardless of whether e.g. one is a potential buyer of a car and the other is a scientist in safety of cars. This gives an often irritating great amount of uninteresting links for both of them.
After being presented with the result, the user generally only has the option of selecting one of the links to the found documents, thereby leaving the search engine or initiating a new search.
There is no possibility of returning to the search engine after reviewing the selected document with information about how relevant the user found that particular document or piece of information and why. So it is impossible for the search engine to make a better choice of presenting the search result the next time.
Another problem of transaction oriented type of searching is that there is no way of determining what the information value of a result is for a user, since the best search result only depends on the best match of the keywords with e.g. a document. For example, if the user specifies the same keyword(s) at two different times and the result is a document saying that the price of oil is increasing, then this document will only have an information value for the user the first time and none the second time.
Yet another drawback of transaction oriented type of searching is the lacking reference to time. If e.g. the keyword xe2x80x98carxe2x80x99 is specified, the corresponding result will always be the same regardless of which prior keywords the user has specified. The user could e.g. have typed Volvo as the last keyword or have shown the greatest interest in Volvo in 75% of all searches related to cars. This knowledge is not available in a search system without a time reference and individuality of the users.
One way of obtaining individuality in searching in the prior art is by the use of user profiles. An individual user profile is obtained by monitoring and storing the keywords which a user specifies over a period of time and tries to determine one or more trends for that period, thereby trying to be able to predict what a user is interested in the future. Additionally a user profile may be updated to reflect how interesting the user found a particular document, etc.
However, such a user profile is not very dynamic or flexible, and unless a user very often searches for the same things and uses the same group of keywords again and again, this kind of user profile does not give any advantages, e.g. if a user one day wants to find information about a certain subject and the next day about a completely different subject, e.g. because he has just learned about it or often does not have an actual goal but just wants to be entertained. Also a keyword is specified at two different times, the user profile generally will change meanwhile, so that two different lists would be presented.
Generally speaking, prior art search engines and user profiles are good at trying to find or re-find documents, which are about the same as the user has shown an interest in before, but they match a query against an already decided and objective topic category in a hierarchy of related categories (sports is parent of ice-hockey, football, soccer, etc.). So the information value of a document in a given topic category is determined by others.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method which enables a user to perform a search for electronic information from one or more information sources, the method enabling a representation of relations between different types of information and different users.
This object is achieved by a method of the type mentioned above, said method further comprising
a context representation for one or more references, and
a context representation for one or more users, where
each context representation contains one or more indications representing other contexts with which each is related, and in that the method further comprises the steps of:
presenting the search result to the user in a number of different ways at the same time based on one or more context representations, and
presenting additional choices relating to the search result based on one or more context representations.
Hereby, a method is provided where each object, i.e. references to text document, picture, user, etc., has a representation, i.e. context representation, describing the relations between that particular object and other objects. In this way a very simple and useful way of describing the relations of each object is obtained. The relations between two text documents could e.g. be that a user who found one of them interesting would probably find the other interesting as well. So related objects belonging to a given topic could be connected by their context representations. Furthermore it is possible to locate references to information via intermediate objects.
In general, the context representations comprise all aspects of a collection of information sources, i.e. documents, people using it, user""s collections of information, e-mails, etc., and describe relations of and communication with/between people, information, behaviour and individual interests.
The method focuses on continuation of a search process instead of starting all over again. The method is executed with a continuous interaction between intermediate results and intermediate searches. In this way, a user is always presented with the possibility of searching, results of searching and additional choices relating to the results at the same time. The choices the user makes will lead to other results and choices, as the user continuously selects the choices and information he finds relevant or interesting.
All objects in the search process, i.e. references to information, users, search processes, subjects, choices, etc., have a context representation which is used to determine a relation between that particular object and one or more other objects.
For example, a picture of a car could relate positively to an article about cars, news about cars, an article about trains and relate negatively (or not at all) to an article about clothes.
In this way the method is able to provide and present several related references to information, users, subjects, etc. which may have a potential information value for the user in the ongoing search process.
The user may be presented with references to information containing a potential information value together with further choices, thereby being able to review some of the presented information. Preferably the user is also presented with a public virtual topic room where other users have located information which they found relevant for that particular topic. The present user also has the possibility of putting one or more references to information in the public virtual topic room for that particular topic for later retrieval by him and others, or continuing the search in the same or a narrower direction, or changing direction completely if the user gets bored.
In general, it is possible to enhance the search for information by using the context representations, since every type of object can be described, and thereby made searchable, with regard to contents, time, relations, people, communication of people and information like type, topic, link structure, attributes, etc.
Another object of the invention is to provide easy and fast access to information which interests the user by having a collection of information for each user which is private where the user can collect references to information that he finds interesting.
This is obtained if the method further comprises the steps of:
enabling a user to select one or more references to review the information, and
enabling a user to collect references to information in a collection of information.
In this way, the user himself may select references to information or information that he finds interesting or relevant during the dynamic and continuous search process for easy access later. After one or more search processes the user gradually builds a private library of references to information of personal interest.
The method may further comprise:
the step of modifying one or more context representations on the basis of one or more context representations, and/or
the step of modifying a context representation is done when a user executes an action on the basis of one or more references to information or executes an action on the basis of one or more different users, and/or
the step of modifying a context representation is done when the context representation is related with another piece of information or is related with a user.
In this way, relations/context representations between different objects may change or influence each other.
Additionally, a dynamic update of the relations between a user and other users and/or between the user and information is possible, so that they may be dynamically updated, as the search process continues, influencing each other, when a user e.g. selects a choice on the basis of an object, reviews information, keeps a reference to another user or information, etc. This gives a very dynamic system which may describe the preferences of the object over time.
Different information objects may also change their context representation, so that when e.g. a document is located in the virtual topic room by a user, the context representation of the user may influence the context representation of the document.
This is e.g. used in a situation where two users have mutual interests, which may be defined by their mutual relation, and one of them has a relation to a document, then it is more likely that the other user will also find that particular document interesting, i.e. it would have a potential information value for him as well.
The dynamic feature of this method also makes it easy to include new objects, since they only have to be assigned a context representation with preferably pre-set relations. The context representation will then gradually change depending on the search processes in which it is involved. In this way the method is able to handle an information domain that changes rapidly and dynamically like an Intranet of a large company or the Internet.
Another advantage is that the objects and user may dynamically be categorised by their relations to each other and how they interact. This is obtained by updating the context representation/relations for each object, e.g. piece of information, user, search process, etc., when other objects influence/are in contact with this particular object and vice versa. This is done by changing their context representation reflecting the change in their relations.
For example, a user may be categorised by which information, e.g. documents, chat rooms, other users, topics etc., he refers to in his collection of information/virtual topic room.
For example, a document may be categorised by which users, other documents, topics, chat rooms, etc. who/which refer to the document and/or use it.
For example other user virtual rooms may be categorised by the documents they refer to.
Context representations selectively choose (by definition and/or situation) by which other types of context representations they want to be affected and by what amount. For example a users context representation may only be changed by the context representation of a search process, the context representation of a file only by the context representation of a document, etc.
This is different from the prior art which categorises e.g. a document by which words it contains, a picture by which patterns it contains, a search process by keywords, etc.
As the user collects information, he hereby gradually and continuously participates in categorising every object that is part of or is in contact with the ongoing search process in one way or another. Even the search process itself may be categorised. Every object being part of the process has its context representation/its relations changed depending on the other objects with which it comes into contact.
In other words, a hierarchy of topics may be generated, where each topic has a corresponding virtual topic room, where the users themselves put references to documents, files, pictures, etc. The virtual topic room has a context representation/relations as well which change dynamically in response to the words in the communication in the room, and are affected by the context representations of search processes, users, archives, related topics, etc. which refer to the virtual topic room or are placed within it. Hereby the topics are not static or objective but generated dynamically through contexts. There is provided a great number of context representations which dynamically categorise/relate users and communication in the same manner.
This categorisation is dynamic and subjective as opposed to a transaction oriented type of searching where keywords are matched against static categories determined by their keywords.
In a preferred embodiment each object has a unique context representation reflecting the type of the object, i.e. chat-room, document, picture, e-mail, etc.
In another embodiment only parts of a context representation of a given type can be set to be affected only by at least a part of certain other context representations.
In another embodiment each context representation comprises a word part, a topic part and an attribute part. Preferably, the word part contains every word of the information domain and the corresponding relative word frequency in the object for each word, i.e. how many times a specific word appears in the object divided by the total number of words. The relative word frequency is a number between 0 and 1.
The topic part lists every topic of a given hierarchy of topics and for each topic a corresponding probability of that particular topic being related to the ongoing search process/communication.
The attribute part lists parameters which are similar for each type of object. Each parameter may have different types of values. For example each context representation may contain an attribute that indicates which other context representations are able to influence that particular context representation, in what way it is influenced, and by how much. The exact nature of this attribute varies with the type of object.
In another embodiment each context representation comprises a first vector and a second vector, where the first vector comprises information on the information referenced by the context representation, and the second vector comprises information on the change of the context representation as a result of its being affected by other context representations.
The present invention also relates to an apparatus for searching and presenting electronic information from one or more information sources.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which enables a user to perform a search for electronic information from one or more information sources, thereby enabling a description of relations between different types of information and different users.
This object is achieved by an apparatus of the type mentioned initially, said apparatus further comprising processing means comprising:
a context representation for one or more references, and
a context representation for one or more users, where
each context representation contains one or more indications representing other contexts with which each. is related,
and in that the processing means are adapted to:
present the search result to the user, via said presenting means, in a number of different ways at the same time based on one or more context representations,
present additional choices relating to the search result based on one or more context representations.
This gives the same advantages for the same reasons as described previously in relation to the method.
Other embodiments of the apparatus according to the invention are characterized by the features defined in the dependent claims, which are advantageous for the same reasons as described previously in relation to the method.
Further, the invention relates to a computer-readable medium whose contents are adapted to cause a computer system to search and present electronic information from one or more information sources, by performing the steps of:
presenting one or more choices to a user,
registering one or more user specified choices,
using said one or more user specified choices to retrieve one or more references to information from said information sources, and
providing a search result comprising one or more references to information.
The computer-readable medium according to the invention is characterized in that the medium comprises
a context representation for one or more references, and
a context representation for one or more users,
where
each context representation contains one or more indications representing other contexts with which each is related,
and by further performing the steps of:
presenting the search result to the user in a number of different ways at the same time based on one or more context representations, and
presenting additional choices relating to the search result based on one or more context representations.
Hereby, when a computer is caused to search and present electronic information from one or more information sources,xe2x80x94as a consequence of the contents of a computer-readable medium as described abovexe2x80x94the advantages mentioned in connection with the corresponding method and apparatus according to the invention are achieved.
Finally, the invention relates to a computer program element comprising computer program code means adapted to enable a computer system to search and present electronic information from one or more information sources, by performing the steps of:
presenting one or more choices to a user,
registering one or more user specified choices,
using said one or more user specified choices to retrieve one or more references to information from said information sources, and
providing a search result comprising one or more references to information.
The computer program element according to the invention is characterized in that the program element comprises
a context representation for one or more references, and
a context representation for one or more users,
where
each context representation contains one or more indications representing other contexts with which each is related,
and by further performing the steps of:
presenting the search result to the user in a number of different ways at the same time based on one or more context representations, and
presenting additional choices relating to the search result based on one or more context representations.
When a computer program element causes a computer to enable a computer system to search and present electronic information from one or more information sources, as described above, the advantages mentioned in connection with the corresponding method and apparatus according to the invention are achieved.